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Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone is the main protaganist/character in the Godfather film series and the youngest of the three Corleone brothers. He took over as Don after his father died. He is portrayed by Al Pacino. Biography Born in 1920, Michael was deeply loved by his father, even prompting Vito to murder blackmailer Massimo Fanucci so he could support Michael and the rest of his family. He became a bright and handsome young man, and of all of Vito Corleone's children, Michael was said to be most like him in terms of intelligence, personality, and cunning. The Prodigal Son wedding.]] Michael initially wanted nothing to do with the Corleone's "family business," even though everyone assumed that he would take over from his father, and enrolled at Dartmouth College in order to escape it. After the United States' entry into World War II in 1941, he enlisted in the Marines and fought in the Pacific, despite his father's express command not to do so. For his bravery, Michael was featured in Life magazine in 1944. Michael was discharged as a Captain to recover from wounds in 1945 (unbeknownst to him, the doctor treating him had been bribed by his father to exaggerate his injury in order to send him home). He would later re-enter Dartmouth, where he would meet his future wife Kay Adams. However, when his father was nearly assassinated in 1945, he volunteered to murder the men responsible, Virgil Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey, a police captain who was acting as Sollozzo's bodyguard. Michael showed his cunning when he suggested that the Family use their contacts in the newspaper to play up McCluskey's connection to the drug lord Sollozzo, thereby relieving some of the flack that the Corleones would receive afterward. After committing the murders, Michael fled to Sicily under the protection of Don Tommasino and stayed in hiding for two years, where he leaned of the Mafia's roots. While in Sicily, he fell in love with, and soon married, a beautiful young woman named Apollonia, but she was killed by a car bomb intended for Michael. After this, Michael decided to fully join his father's business. The New Don While in Sicily, he learned that his older brother Sonny had been murdered and he returned to New York in 1950. There, he reluctantly became involved in his family's criminal enterprises, taking over for his deceased brother as head of the family under Vito's supervision and subtly attacking the other Families' businesses with the use of his two secret caporegimes, Al Neri and Aldo Trapani. He married Kay a year later. Michael tried to buy out casino owner Moe Greene's stake in the casino, intending to move his family to Nevada. After his father's retirement in 1950, he became Don of the Corleone crime family. Before his death in 1955, Vito had warned Michael that after he was gone, the head of the rival Barzini family would make an attempt on his life under the pretense of organizing a meeting to make peace between the two families. After his father's caporegime, Salvatore Tessio, inadvertently revealed that he had conspired with Emilio Barzini against him, in one of the film's most iconic scenes, Michael arranged the murders of the leaders of the New York Mafia's other ruling families: Dons Barzini, Philip Tattaglia, Carmine Cuneo, and Victor Stracci, as well as Greene, Tessio, and Carlo Rizzi , his brother-in-law, who beat his sister Connie and sold out Sonny. The Move to Nevada A few years after the move to Nevada, Michael, now in his mid-thirties, had tried to remove all criminal ties to his family, and made Peter Clemenza head of the Corleone family in New York. Clemenza died of a supposed heart attack, and was replaced by Family friend and soldier Frank Pentangeli. His efforts at redeeming the Family were largely unsuccessful, however, as his many enemies kept him involved in the crime underworld. After beginning to work out a deal with business partner and rival Hyman Roth over control of casino operations, Roth manipulated Michael's brother Fredo into unwittingly providing him with information used to arrange an attempt on Michael's life. He also attempted to murder Pentangeli before convincing the capo that Michael was to blame. Michael and Roth travelled to Cuba under Fulgencio Batista to forge a partnership with the Cuban government, allowing them to be free to conduct their operations in Cuba without interference from the authorities, in return for generous payments to Batista. While in Cuba, Michael sent his loyal bodyguard Bussetta to eliminate Roth on New Year's Eve, while the old man was hospitalised. That night, he discovered Fredo had been in cahoots with Roth, leading Fredo to flee during Castro's takeover that night, during which Bussetta and Aldo Trapani, Michael's faithful enforcer, were killed. Roth survived and attempted to flee to Israel. Back in the US, Kay became unable to accept her husband's criminal activities. Kay revealed she had aborted their child because she did not want to give Michael another son. Hurt and angered by this second betrayal, Michael divorces Kay and severs ties with her, forbidding her to take care of the children. This happened at the same time as the Senate Mafia Hearings, where Frank Pentangeli had been persuaded to testify against Michael, but the arrival of his brother Vincenzo made him renounce his testimony. Fredo returned to Tahoe at this point, and Michael severed all ties with his brother following the revelation that Fredo had withheld vital information from him about the hearings, namely that the Senate lawyer, Questadt, belonged to Roth. Following the death of Carmella Corleone and at the behest of his sister Connie, Michael appeared to reconcile with his brother, but secretly ordered Fredo's murder to be carried out, an act he would regret for the rest of his life and eventually confess to the future pope. He also sent Rocco Lampone to kill Roth at JFK airport. Seeking Legitimacy By the time of The Godfather: Part III (the late 1970s) Michael, an old man now, had taken great steps to making the family legitimate, preparing to hand over his interests in gambling to the other Mafia families, setting up a charitable foundation, and even being recognized by the Vatican for his good works. This new connection to the Church gave Michael the opportunity to purchase a controlling stake in the large property company, Immobiliare. He also began to rekindle his relationship with Adams, as well as taking Sonny's illegitimate son, Vincent "Vinnie" Mancini, under his wing. He found himself pulled back into the underworld, however, when almost the entire Mafia Commission was wiped out by an assassin as Michael prepared to hand over his criminal interests. Vinnie responded to this new threat against the Family with brutal violence, publicly gunning down Michael's rival, Joey Zasa, who was thought to have ordered the hit on Michael. Vinnie also began a relationship with Michael's daughter, Mary, a romance Michael strongly disapproved of. Retirement At the end of the film, weary of the bloody, lonely life of a Don, he retired and made his nephew the new head of the family, on condition that he end the relationship with Mary. Realising that powerful interests in Italian politics and business were working to prevent the family's takeover of Immobiliare, Michael, with Vinnie's assistance, once again prepared to move against his enemies. This bloody wave of murders took place as Michael, reconciled with Kay and Anthony, watched his son perform in the opera Cavalleria Rusticana. That same night, however, Mary was inadvertently killed in an assassination attempt on her father, being shot to death in front of her whole family. Devastated by this loss, Michael retired to Sicily and died there in 1997, seemingly distraught and alone, of a stroke in the film's final scene while sitting in a chair in front of the villa where he and Apollonia had made love. Family Members *Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather Part I, and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II *Carmella Corleone — Mother; played by Morgana King *Tom Hagen — Adopted brother & Consigliere; played by Robert Duvall *Andrew Hagen — Adopted nephew, son of Tom Hagen; played by John Savage *Sonny Corleone — Eldest brother, Underboss to Vito; played by James Caan *Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire *Fredo Corleone — Elder brother, Underboss to Michael; played by John Cazale *Apollonia Vitelli — First Wife, played by Simonetta Stefanelli *Kay Adams — Second Wife; played by Diane Keaton *Anthony Corleone — Son; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in The Godfather Part II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio in The Godfather Part III *Mary Corleone — Daughter; played by Sofia Coppola *Vincent Mancini — Nephew and succeeding 'Don'; played by Andy Garcia. Category: Dons Category: Corleones